Drive Time

ARTICLES ABOUT DRIVE TIME BY DATE - PAGE 5

Liz called. She was upset and had every right to be. She wanted a 1994 Mercedes-Benz C280. Even had the money. But after making several calls she couldn't find a dealer who had the car she wanted with the equipment she wanted and in the color she wanted-until the last dealer she called. "Come on down," the salesman chirped into the phone. "So you have the car in stock?" Liz asked one last time. "No, but we can have it for you in 48 hours," the salesman said.

It's Sunday brunch at the elegant Hotel Nikko Chicago's Celebrity Cafe. As the patrons sample items such as chicken marsala and pate en croute or, perhaps, treat themselves to a second helping of mango mousse cake, the ethereal sound of new-age composer Vangelis fades. Taking over is WNUA-FM 95.5's Rick O'Dell, who is seated next to his engineer at a table in the cafe and is host of the weekly 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. "Sunday Soundscapes." Between music by Suzanne Ciani, Spyro Gyra and David Lanz, O'Dell chats with brunchers, the occasional visiting musical artist like Yanni and hotel manager Peter Dangerfield, who never misses a chance to extol the hotel's culinary virtues.

How surprising was the WLUP Radio decision earlier this week to move "Coppock on Sports" to afternoon drive-time? "I didn't hear about it until (producer) Jim Modelski called me Sunday morning to tell me," said Chet Coppock, who has been the host of the three-hour sports show for 11 years. Now, that's keeping a secret. Coppock's move was just part of several Loop changes that put afternoon host Jonathon Brandmeier on FM only and moved up former "Partridge Family" member Danny Bonaduce to Coppock's old 7 p.m. spot on AM. "We made a series of moves that we think were positive adjustments," WLUP General Manager Larry Wert said.

A lot of famous people could choke on their own words in the September issue of Playboy, which has reprinted them as part of the 30th anniversary of the Playboy interview. There's Jimmy Hoffa saying, "I don`t need bodyguards," and Hugh Hefner saying, "I`m not apt to be getting married." In 1970 William F. Buckley said, "We are eliminating poverty in this country faster than any society ever." In 1969 Bill Cosby said, "I really do plan to get out of show business within five years or so."

You`d be hard-pressed to find a more versatile figure working in Chicago broadcasting today than WJJD-AM 1160 afternoon-drive personality Bob Hale. One of the original deejays at WLS-AM when the station switched to rock `n` roll music in 1960, Hale later worked at WMAQ-AM, WIND and WCFL. He's probably best known, though, for his long stints hosting WMAQ-Ch. 5's "Today in Chicago" and "Sunday in Chicago" in the `60s and `70s. Now for the first time in his long career, Hale is working in both media simultaneously.

Susan Lucci ("Erica") and her 11 "All My Children" husbands are here Friday for a taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" at her Harpo studios (110 N. Carpenter St.). Tickets may still be available for the taping. Check it out by phoning 591-9222. Seeing Stars Former "Santa Barbara" hunk Scott Jaeck (he played Cain Garver) is rehearsing "Prelude to a Kiss," which opens for previews on Valentine's Day at the Wellington Theatre. He says his fans may catch him at his favorite hangouts, the Gaslight Corner (2858 N. Halsted St.)

When the months-long staredown in the Persian Gulf between the U.S., its allies and Iraq finally turned into a shooting war Wednesday, it was radio that first carried the message to many in the Chicago area. It was about 5:30 p.m., peak afternoon drive time, when radio broke the news that Operation Desert Shield was now Operation Desert Storm. And when Iraqi Scud missiles were launched against Israel 24 hours later, once again radio had the story. One Chicagoan who spent much of Wednesday tuned to her radio was Connie Craig, a speech therapist whose son is an F-14 pilot based on the USS Ranger.

These days, the average person who quips, "It was an interesting evening," or, "Uncle Ed and Aunt Flo are, well, interesting," is probably tossing off just another coyly phrased aspersion. Indeed, the same blind date who was "loaded with personality" in decades past was "interesting" in the `80s. So when Studs Terkel, legendary WFMT-FM radio host and author, recently described his show's upcoming timeslot switch as "interesting," this average reporter reacted predictably. Terkel took his shot at the evening drive period, didn`t succeed and now is being eased out, I thought, albeit briefly.

By Article by Lynda Gorov, a Chicago-based freelance writer | June 11, 1989

Nice girls don`t do radio. "Even after all this time, they`re pushing that sex stuff. The all-American girl doesn`t exist on radio, not like the all-American boy does," says Brenda Montgomery, who hosts a talk show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on WGCI (AM 1390). "So if you look at morning drive, it's all guys or the women are just accessories. At 6 a.m., the stations want someone listeners can punch with. "And when women rock, we`re still called raunchy." Radio may be a 24-hour-a-day proposition, but real prestige means morning drive.

It all started as a whimsical idea gleaned from the pages of Forbes magazine. It would be quite an adventure, Joe Phillips thought, to have three guys in a souped-up, four-wheel Toyota Landcruiser freewheeling across South America in the 8,500-mile Trans-Amazon rally. "It seemed like a really exciting adventure when I read about the rally in Forbes about nine months ago," said Phillips, 24, of Boston. "I kind of toyed with the idea for a while . . . but I didn`t realize it was going to take this much work."